Pics from Cranberry Glades (near Richwood, WV)

[+travis71]

Dont see any posts from any WVers in here, so thought I would make one!

We dont have much in this state, but we do have some nice scenery!

 

Cow Pasture Trail is a trail around the bog area itself. It starts

above the gated off area above the boardwalk, & meanders around the

bog itself. I think its listed as a 5.5 mile hike, but not positive.

We parked at the boardwalk parking area, & walked the mile up the

road to the trailhead as a warmup. Turns out a warmup wasnt really

necessary, this was an extremely easy trail, especially in this dry

weather. The path we took brought us out right below the boardwalk,

so it was a short road walk back to the Jeep. All said I think we

covered about 6.5 miles. No caches on this trail.

 

If you are asked for passwords, enter "pwd".

 

http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j236/tra...Trail%20092907/

 

These are pics from Summit Lake & High Rocks. There were 3 caches at

Summit Lake & 1 at High Rocks. These are easy hikes as well. There

was one steep part at High Rocks, but it wasnt bad. I think High

Rocks was 1.6 miles out to the overlook, AND a cache... this would be

a good hike for a family. Ditto for Summit Lake. The 3 caches are

all not far off of the trails, & the lake is beautiful, as you can

see. This is a lake they stock with trout, so you get the bank

campers during stocks. (from what I understand)

 

http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j236/tra...0Lake%20092907/

 

I am not a photo guy, so forgive any bad pics. The dude with the dark

hair is Bob (bobkbob on geocaching.com) my best friend & hiking

compadre.

 

Here is a trail map of the cranberry wilderness area if any are ever

interested in visiting!!! If you are not into camping, you can stay

at nearby Richwood.

 

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf/rec/wilderness...derness_map.pdf

 

Trav

Edited October 8, 2007 by travis71

[+Nochipra]

I'm not a West Virginian but my parents and grandparent are from West Virginia, Logan County. Both my grandfathers were coal miners there. I was born and raised here in Virginia. I agree that WV has some really nice country and needs more caches.

[+travis71]

Yup, its a good place if you like the outdoors!

 

I think the links were jacked up, so I fixed em.. I hope.

[+rock_rat]

Dont see any posts from any WVers in here, so thought I would make one!

We dont have much in this state, but we do have some nice scenery!

 

Being the outdoorsy type I'd argue we have a lot more than most eastern states. By the way the glades are cool but I'm in love with Dolly Sod's. There's nothing quite like resting your tired feet in the ice cold forks of red creek.

[+travis71]

Greets Rock Rat! Glad to see another WVer with a pulse! My hiking/cache buddy & I have our sights set on a hike to see Lions Head this fall/winter/spring. The wife is not a fan of me doin these trips up in the Mon so I have to pick my battles! I understand there was/were some aggressive bear sightings up in that area these past couple of months.

 

When I was in Richwood for the trip I took these pics on, I read in the paper that a local who hosts a maze in his cornfield had to cancel it this year. The reason was due to the bears coming out & eating too much of his crop, because of the dry weather. I have never seen a bear in the wild & expected to see one on this trip, but the only wildlife bigger than a bird I saw was the deer in the pics. This past weekend, back here in Charleston, I went hiking in Kanawha State Forest with my friend. KSF is 10 minutes from my house. Back along one of the forest service roads, we ran into a good sized black bear. Scared the pants off of me!!! I have been going to Seneca State Forest (between Marlinton & Durbin) for 7 years or so with a bunch of friends & have never seen a bear on any of my squirrel slaying/hiking ventures up there. The irony!!!

 

Anyhow I am lookin forward to getting my bots wet in Dolly Sods! BTW, since you are familiar with the area, do you know of a path to get to Lions Head that would be easy to fit into a day hike??? I do not have the gear (or the desire really) to do a camping trip... so it would have to be a dayhike.. I dont even know if thats possible, as we have only talked about it, & not looked at maps.

[+rock_rat]

The bears are more aggressive this year. Because of our near drought conditions there has been a lack of soft and now that fall has arrived hard mast. Bears are having to scavenge more to get the calories they need for winter. I was there in July with a couple friends and we ran into a couple guys who where camped just upstream from us. They said that a bear had rummaged through there camp the day before while they where hiking. We didn't actually see a bear while we where there but we did see plenty of sign. Now as to lion's head I first have to explain I'm a bit more, um, round than most backpackers. I've spent most of my time in the Blackbird knob, Upper Red creek area's and seeing that I'm not the fastest hiker on the trail my time estimates might be a little off for you. 89SC has said he was at the lion's head cache in 2 hours and he just followed the directions on the trail page. The one thing I would suggest to any one going to the Sod's is take a decent map and a compass. If you stop by the Scenica Rocks visitors center you can get a free trail map and they sell topo maps of the region for a couple bucks.